The cutting and stripping of the shield (armor) from a shielded cable has always presented particular problems, especially when such cutting and/or stripping occurred "on-site", under adverse conditions. Most simply, a hacksaw (or a knife) is employed for cutting, and then stripping, the shield from the cable. Unfortunately, the use of such a device is difficult and imprecise, often resulting in a portion or all of the cable also being cut along with the shielded cable or otherwise damaged during the cutting and/or stripping operations.
To solve these problems, several devices have been disclosed for cutting and/or stripping the shield from a cable. Generally, while often being portable, these devices are nonetheless rather large being either free-standing or mounted on a base or a support. Examples of such devices are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
______________________________________ Inventor(s) U.S. Pat. No. Year Of Issue ______________________________________ Gudmestad 3,857,306 1974 McKeever 4,019,409 1977 Bell et al 4,051,749 1977 Ducret 4,103,578 1978 Ducret 4,169,400 1979. ______________________________________
Unfortunately, because of their size, weight and nonhandholdability, the use of such devices, in many "on site" circumstances, (i.e., due to "on-site" working conditions) are precluded, thereby preventing the use thereof.
In order to solve the above problems, several hand-held devices have also been proposed for cutting and stripping the shield from the cable. For example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,387 issued to Ducret, a cable cutter device is provided that is equipped with a rotary blade tool in order to slit the armor. The device is held by one hand while rotation of the blade is effectuated by a crank handle that must be operated by the users' (or other person's) second hand. Other such references include U.S. Pat. No. 3,892,145 issued to Richie and U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,315 issued to Tanner disclose arrangements wherein the device (the housing) must be held with one hand while, simultaneously, the cable is manually pulled from the device with another hand. Unfortunately, all such devices require the user to not only place and/or hold the shielded cable during the cutting and stripping operations but further requires the user to simultaneously manually hold the device and/or turn the cranks necessary to rotate the cutting blade. Such requirements preclude the use of the device where the user is not able to use both of his or her hands for these purposes.
Other hand-held devices have also been disclosed wherein electrical powered blades are provided to perform the cutting operation. These devices include the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
______________________________________ Inventor(s) U.S. Pat. No. Year Of Issue ______________________________________ Tibbeyt 3,543,614 1970 Hutchinson 3,633,275 1972 Zorzenon 3,959,877 1976 Ducret 4,267,636 1981 Fujimoto 4,736,501 1988. ______________________________________
Unfortunately, each of the above devices nonetheless require the user thereof to hold the tool itself with one hand while the other hand must be used to activate and/or deactivate the motor that cuts the cable.
Despite the longstanding need for the provision of a portable, hand-held, power-operated shielded cable cutter and stripper that may be simultaneously held and power activated by a user while utilizing only one hand, we are not aware of any such device. This is the case even though the need for such a device has coexisted for a longstanding period of time with the references discussed above.
Accordingly, it can be seen that there remains a need for a portable, hand-held, power-operated device for cutting and/or stripping of a shielded cable, which device includes a power motor for driving the cutting blade that is able to be automatically activated or deactivated simply by gripping the device. Such a device could be easily held and used by one hand of the user of the device under conditions and circumstances (that often occur in "on-site" locations) that would ordinarily preclude the use thereof.